Wednesday, March 18, 2015

An Unlucky St. Patty's

Yesterday was a bit of an epic failure.  I'm pretty sure there's not any Irish heritage in my blood, but regardless, it's always fun to dress in green and hope for a little extra luck on St. Patrick's Day.  Yesterday was especially important because it was the day that Ironman announced the 2015 Kona Lottery winners.  Despite being told that the announcement would happen at 12 noon, I was checking my email nonstop from the time I woke up.  I dressed in green, crossed my fingers, and hoped to see an email from Ironman pop up in the inbox.  Unfortunately, the luck of the Irish didn't fall on my side and I won't be in Kona in October.  I'm not sure who's more disappointed - me or my family who was planning an epic vacation to the Big Island.


I'd been craving the traditional St. Patty's meal consisting of corned beef, cabbage, and potatoes.  Growing up Mom always made that for us once a year and I remember loving each and every bite smothered with some mustard.  I picked up cabbage and potatoes at the farmers market and planned to stop by the Earth Fare hot bar on the way home to pick up some corned beef.  Unfortunately, their advertised St. Patty's hot bar special didn't include that particular item.  Not a problem I thought, Whole Foods is just across the street and will certainly have some.  Sadly, there wasn't any corned beef to be had there either.  And then I got home to discover that the bag of sweet potatoes that I planned to eat was covered in mold.  Lovely.

Frustrated, saddened about the Kona news, and tired, I came home and sat on the back deck and drank a Kombucha.  Eventually I threw some leftovers and an egg on top of lettuce and called it dinner.


Fortunately, today has been a much better day.  The morning started with 3800 meter in the pool that felt better than the previous few weeks' swims.  Lunch featured my favorite sandwich - avocado, tomato, hummus, and arugula on Great Harvest bread - paired with an apple dusted with cinnamon.  A refreshing nap in the sunshine energized some research and a late afternoon run.


The goal of tonight's dinner was to make up for the sadness of last night's meal.  Cabbage steaks were sliced, rubbed with garlic cloves and olive oil, and dusted with salt and pepper.  Sweet potatoes were cut into fries, rubbed with coconut oil, and dusted with cinnamon and cumin.  While they cooked, I seasoned some wild cod with garlic and a citrus herb seasoning and added it to the oven for the last ten minutes of cooking time.


Dinner is served!  I added some mustard to the cabbage and ketchup for the sweet potatoes, and I had a very satisfying dinner.


While I was in the kitchen prepping dinner ingredients, there were three bananas on their last days of life staring back at me.  I don't know about you, but once bananas start getting brown spots, I refuse to eat them raw.  Typically they get put in the freezer and used for smoothies.  Today, however, they were the key ingredient in browned butter banana bread.  The end result is a house that smells divine and some coworkers who will have a morning treat tomorrow.


And one last meal that's worth a picture - my Pi Day pizza.  Great Harvest just so happened to be selling pizzas on their garlic herb crust for just $3.14.  With the addition of extra tomato sauce and bell peppers, my pizza craving was satisfied.


How was your St. Patty's Day?  Did you remember to wear your green?

No comments:

Post a Comment